<a class="postlink" href="http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/705111">http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/705111</a>
פון די ניו יארק טיימס
.....RAIDA, Yemen — About all that remain of Yemen’s ancient and once vibrant Jewish community are untended cemeteries, dramatic hillside ghetto villages of thousand-year-old stone houses and a few people like Abraham Jacob and his extended family.
Most of them live near this northern Yemeni town in Amran Province, deep in territory controlled by Houthi militants, whose leaders have made anti-Semitism a central plank in their political platform.....
.......Like the men, most of the boys in the Jacob family wear earlocks, a proud sign of who they are in an otherwise Muslim society.
Now Suleiman keeps his earlocks thin and long enough so that when he goes out he can tuck them out of sight under an Arabic-style head scarf, which also covers the skullcaps (or kipas) that the men and boys all wear. “It’s a shame that we have to do that sometimes, but we do,” he said.
Abraham says he refuses to hide his earlocks: “I ....fear none but God.”
In Raida, Abraham Jacob shrugged off his neighbors’ anti-Semitism, saying, “There are good people, and there are bad people.” But it is harder to overlook the Houthis’ slogan, which is chanted at all Houthi rallies, broadcast on television and painted on what seems like every blank wall space in areas they control.
“We know there are Houthi people who are understanding and tolerant, and we have not been harmed by any of them,” Mr. Jacob said. “But this cursing us to damnation is distressing and hurtful to us.”
“Honestly,” his brother Suleiman said, “we are a little afraid of the Houthi takeover and don’t know what to do about it.”
Their family’s choice would be to emigrate to the United States, rather than Israel, Suleiman said, “because America is quieter, and we’ve had enough problems already...."
The neighborhood still has young children and their parents, as well as elderly people, but there are few single adults of marriageable age. Most have emigrated. The last wedding took place two years ago, Abraham said. The newlyweds left Yemen and never came back.
“There isn’t a single one of us here who doesn’t want to leave,” Suleiman said. “Soon there will be no Jews in Yemen, inshallah,” he said, using the Arabic expression for “God willing."
<a class="postlink" href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/world/middleeast/persecution-defines-life-for-yemens-few-jews.html?referrer=">http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/wo ... ?referrer=</a>
📎 20150217YEMENJEWS-slide-DVGD-slide.jpg 📎 17YEMENJEWS1-articleLarge.jpg 📎 17YEMENJEWS2-articleLarge.jpg 📎 9226205115843239.jpg
